Varstl's gaze is directed towards the figures, and the realization of his noise dawns visibly on his face. Nodding, he sets down his oversized pack slowly and deliberately, then unclasps the crossbow and bolts attached to the side of it. Brushing away leaves and twigs, he ever so gently loads one arrow before stowing the rest into a particularly large pocket in his vest, probably made for that purpose.

"Got it," he whisperers. "Just in case."

(Second page? An outrage!)

The cultists start to move around in a circle, and in between their flowing black robes you can see two figures lying on an altar. The rain starts to grow heavy again.

Luja grimaces.

"Are they... sacrifices? Well, better them than us."

He readies his shortbow and notches an arrow, hoping to put it to better use this time around.

Zem puts a finger to his lips and whispers, "Wait for a moment...I want to try something." He begins to creep through the ruins, slipping from shadow to shadow, trying to get close enough for him to hear the cultists. A grin spread accross his features: a smile far more sinister than anything that had adorned his features thus far.

There were cultists. All well and good, but where there were cultists there were usually dark and forgotten powers as well. Powers that, he assumed, wouldn't mind being impersonated by little old Zem. He wanted to hear enough so that he could impersonate whatever these cultists worshipped.

You hear generic chanting from which you gather:
They worship the spirit of the Lich Emperor
They worship the power in this place that emanates from the Shard
They are channeling the power of the Shard to curse the blood of the sacrifices to feed to the roots as poison
They loathe the forest, as it hinders and restrains the power of the Shard
They only wished they had more people to sacrifice, but any fewer channelers and they would be less likely to succeed

Zem prepared his spells hiding behind a broken wall near the cultists. Two brief castings later and he was done.

(Sorry, not enough bluff)

"Who dares interrupt this ceremony? Who dares to come into our midst as an impostor!?" The twenty-three robed men all turn to you. You can hear one of them mumble "How'd he get through the forest alone?" but nobody else seems to notice. And then, seemingly from everyone at once, "Attack!"

(Roll your initiatives, fellas. Since Zem's listening and speaking took some time, I will allow the rest of the party to have moved closer if they so wish. The cultists get 17.)

While Zem was busy distracting the cultists, Luja had snuck forward as much as he dared. Caught off guard by the cultists' sudden declaration of Zem as an imposter, Luja fumbled around for a moment as he brought his shortbow to bear.

"Zem! Run! There's too many of 'em!"

Taking careful aim not to hit Zem, Luja fires off an arrow towards the cultists.

Zem was more annoyed than anything else that the cultists hadn't fallen for his bluff. He dropped his arm and glared at them from behind his magical lights. "Fools," he muttered, his ghost sound spell making his voice speak from all around the cultists. "You might have lived, but noooooo...now I have to kill you all. All gods damn idiot cultists." He stood on his broken pillar, ignoring the danger in favor of insulting the cultists.

(Ha ha, you guys are hilarious. And Zemalac, you were hindered a bit by the Lich Emperor being long gone.)

I was wondering if I could jump in on this RP?

i have an Idea for a chracter and everything,

I also have a great character, imaginery and everything. His skills are killing late characters or trench coating ones. Wanna see Kelethor? =D

Larenxis:
(Ha ha, you guys are hilarious. And Zemalac, you were hindered a bit by the Lich Emperor being long gone.)

OOC: Pffft. They worship the spirit of the Lich Emperor. I thought that perhaps they'd believe someone sent by what they worship. I mean, come on. They're bowing to the spirit of some undead creep and his crystal. I didn't think they would be logical enough to see through me.

During Zem's outrageous plan, Varstl had slowly made his way around the right of the vine-covered wall, taking care not to be noticed by the distracted cultists and hoping to catch their flank by surprise. The ruse having failed, he readies his crossbow, waiting for anyone to make a sudden move.

Velve hindered by his heavy armour is slow to react.

OOC: So, ah, are the cultists going to do anything? Nothing's happened for five days, but they won initiative so the rest of us can't do anything until they act, right?

(Ah! sorry, I was waiting for one more, and there isn't one. Excuse my foolishness.)

The two cultists nearest Zem attempt to seize him. Most of the cultists seem fairly nervous and one of them looks downright amused.

Zem swung his spear at the nearest of the cultists trying to seize him. The blade came nowhere close to the cultist, but the man didn't know that--all he saw was the light flashing from the blade in front of him. He flinched slightly, and Zem shrugged off the seeking hands.

"I have had quite enough of this," he muttered. "It's almost becoming embarrassing."

OOC: So, does Varstl's readied action take effect now?

You can hear one cultist mumble "Pathetic" but most of them seem quite concerned.

(Feel free to go, fellas.)

(Okay, let's see if I can get things in order then.)

Semong let fly a bolt that nicked one of the frightened cultists, who exclaimed "AH! I'M SHOT!" which had a rippling effect of fear around him. Varstl and Velve seemed to be waiting for something, so Luja called out "Zem! Run! There's too many of 'em!" and fired an arrow dealing another cultist an injury. The cultists seemed both frightened and angered, and one of them slightly amused.

(It's Velve next I believe. And then the cultists will retaliate.)

Semong frowned at the amused cultist. Something about him wasn't right; in Semong's experience, cultists were much more upset when you broke up their party. He made a few quick gestures and began fading out of view.

Readying another arrow, Luja fires off a second shot towards the cultists.

If the arrow hits, Luja makes a mental note to steal the robes off that cultist later. They're obviously armour-plated or something...

(Blayze, perhaps you hit the part of their shoe between their toes? Still 'hits' but doesn't do damage.)

The cultists move around awkwardly. You get the impression they've been alone in this place without intrusion for a long time. Two of them slip away, and the one that was amused earlier is now chuckling to himself.

"This is a madhouse," Varstl mumbles to himself. Confident that he's yet to be spotted and crossbow at the ready, the dwarf continues his way around the group; should one of them try something silly, he's more than prepared to splatter the contents of their skulls onto the grass. Especially their obnoxious leader.

(You guys are delightful. I can hardly wait to see what BeeL wants to do.)

The chuckling man stops as another cultist looks at him suspiciously. "Ahem" he coughs, putting on a straight face.